Mistake
by A.M.E. sweetheart
Summary: Garcia is convinced that a night spent with Derek Morgan was a mistake. MorganGarcia angst.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

Garcia lay supine on the unfamiliar bed, staring at the ceiling. Her hands fiddled unconsciously with the cool sheets as she focused on not looking at the figure lying next to her. The last twenty-four hours had been a blur. It had been an incredibly amazing blur to be sure, but nonetheless it was a blur she would rather forget.

Looking back she still didn't know exactly what had inspired her to be so incredibly stupid. It wasn't as though she didn't know what would happen. She was a smart woman, but alas even the most intelligent must sometimes fall prey to the uncanny wiles of the opposite sex.

Garcia rose from the bed and began dressing in silence. She hardly dared to breathe for fear of waking him, but somehow managed to replace all of her fallen clothing. All that remained was her shoes. She located one beside the near-empty bookcase. The other, however, remained elusive. It seemed to have disappeared in the mere hours they had been separated. As quietly as possible, Garcia circled the room, checking every nook and cranny, but still there was no shoe. She was about to give up the search and just leave, when she remembered her shoe being kicked beneath the bed in the passionate frenzy that had taken place not too long before. She crouched beside the bed and slid her arm beneath the frame in search of her missing footwear.

She tried not to think as she searched, but failed miserably. Her thoughts seemed magnetically attracted to the figure sprawled across the mattress beside her, and every time her eyes veered in his direction she could not help the feeling of complete and utter helplessness that washed over her. It was not a feeling she was accustomed to, nor was the stupidity that accompanied it any more familiar.

In truth, she knew her situation was not a new one. How many others must have been in this same position? How many other women had shared his bed? How many women had he used to placate his lusty urges and then discarded without a second thought? What ever the number, she knew she was no different. Why _should_ she be different? What made her naïve enough to believe she would be the exception, that she was special? There really was no excuse.

Her hand found the evasive shoe and she stood again. Gripping both shoes in her hand she moved slowly through the bedroom towards the door. Before she reached her destination, however, she walked straight into the large armoire, stubbing her toe on the wooden base.

Garcia stood for a moment in anticipation before the dull throbbing began working its way through her toe. She hissed in pain, silently cursing her flat-footedness, and then froze as the figure on the bed before her began to shift restlessly. She watched as he rolled over, murmuring contentedly to himself and began patting the empty space where she had lain not five minutes before. When his hand encountered nothing but wrinkled sheets and mattress, he sat up groggily. It was obvious that he was not fully awake as he smiled sleepily at her.

"Whatcha lookin' for, baby girl?"

Garcia tried her hardest not to be drawn in by the seductive tone of his voice but that along with the fiery look in his eyes was all she needed to be pulled back over the edge.

"I…um…" she stammered, no longer sure of her motives. What had she been thinking before, anyway? Of course she was different. Of course she was special.

Derek climbed out of bed, his beautifully sculpted brow furrowing in confusion as he took in her fully-clothed figure.

"Garcia," he repeated. His voice had lost all hints of the playfulness it had contained before. Instead, it was replaced by an uneasiness that seemed to fill the room. "Where are you going?"

Penelope fought a silent battle as she stood staring at him with wide eyes. A part of her longed to stay, longed to return to the warmth of his arms, but another part of her realized that doing just that would be the death of her. Letting herself get sucked in by the Derek Morgan Charm would only destroy her later, no matter how utterly blissful it might make her now. Leaving was the only option. Her only chance of survival was to leave now and forget all that had transpired between them.

If only it was that easy, though. Standing there, feeling his eyes devouring her, she could not help but feel like maybe leaving might not be the best idea after all. His eyes had paranormal powers when it came to Garcia, and now was no excuse. She felt as though she were about to melt under the intensity of his gaze and just barely managed to squeak a scarcely-audible "home" in response.

Morgan chuckled and took a few steps forward, grasping Garcia by the wrist. He obviously thought the whole thing to be some sort of ruse, though he could not understand what the point was.

"Come back to bed, princess," he whispered huskily.

Garcia could feel her knees giving way as he spoke, but she somehow managed to maintain her balance and remove herself from his grasp. She shook her head defiantly and took a step backwards.

The coy smile that had been playing at his lips until this point disappeared, replaced by a rather enigmatic frown.

"Penelope, what's wrong?"

His use of her first name was a sure sign of just how serious he was. She could count on one hand the number of times he had abandoned his flirtatious endearments for her given name, and it made her feel slightly uneasy – or more so than she was already feeling – to hear him use it now.

"I have to go," she murmured.

"Baby girl, why?"

"This was a mistake," she whispered.

Derek cringed at her words. He walked slowly forward, positioning himself before her. He cupped her chin in his hands, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Don't say that," he told her firmly. "Don't ever say that."

She shook her head, ending the hold he had on her.

"This was a mistake," she repeated quietly. "I have to go."

"Baby girl, look at me." His words came out in almost a desperate manner. That in itself shocked Penelope, but then she felt his thumb gently guiding her chin upwards and she saw the look of utter pleading in his eyes and she was sent over the edge. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks as his eyes searched hers for the answer to what was going on. His thumb left her chin and softly brushed the tears from her cheeks. He leaned closer to her so that his forehead was resting against hers. "Stay."

Garcia stepped back, shaking her head. Her resolve had returned to her and she refused to let it leave her again.

"I can't let you do this to me, Derek," she whispered brokenly. She shook herself free from his grasp. "I can't do this to myself."

Derek watched in confusion as Garcia walked out of the bedroom, and then he grabbed his boxers from where they had been strewn on the floor, pulling them on as he followed her into the living room. He stared at her in disbelief as she pulled the front door open and turned back around to face him. From where he stood, he could see the fresh tears welling in her once-lively eyes.

"I have to go," she repeated for the third time that night, and she was gone.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so I realize that this is a tad bit different than traditional Morgan/Garcia fics. I find that I can't write a story unless it's smothered in angst. Anyhow, I'd love to hear from everyone on whether or not to continue. I'm not sure I like the melancholy ending all that much, especially not so close to Christmas, so be a doll and tell me what you think. Thanks so much and happy holidays! 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I just want to thank everyone who took the time to review for the last chapter. It did wonders to encourage and inspire me, so thank you bunches and enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two:**

Penelope plodded slowly up the flight of stairs, pausing only when she reached the landing outside her front door. She sighed and inserted the key into the lock, pushing the door open. She stepped inside and felt a wave of nausea overcome her. Her usually vibrant and lively apartment did not present the comfort she had expected. It just seemed somehow hollow and lonely as she carefully maneuvered her way through the furniture.

Garcia trudged through the front room and down the hallway until she found her bedroom. She did not bother turning on the lights and instead threw herself straight onto the large bed in the center of the room. Dark was better, anyway, for what she intended. The darkness provided a sense of closure when crying. And just staring up at the ceiling, Garcia was already trembling with the force of her oncoming sobs.

There was nothing in particular that she cried for; she cried for everything, but most of all she cried for her incredible stupidity and for the burning ache that had slowly developed in her chest over the course of the last thirty minutes.

It was several hours before she could regain her composer, for the most part at least. Her sobs were reduced to mere sniffles, and she could almost take a full breath without bursting into tears once again. She stood up, taking care to avoid the mirror positioned above her bureau, knowing all too well what she must look like, and slowly made her way into the front room.

It was nearly three in the morning and she had to be at work in less than five hours, but she desperately needed to talk to someone. She needed someone to comfort her and tell her everything would be all right. She needed someone to make her smile, and there was only one person she could think of to do the job: Derek. But unfortunately, Derek was the source of all her current problems and would certainly not be capable of fixing them. She was forced to turn to the next-best person instead. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the phone and dialed JJ's number.

"Hello?" Penelope felt a pang of guilt as the woman answered, clearly having been woken by her unorthodox call.

"JJ," Penelope croaked. She was shocked to hear how raw and desperate her voice sounded, but then again, hours of nonstop sobbing would do that to anyone.

"Garcia," JJ sounded wide awake now and full of concern for her friend. "What's wrong?"

But Penelope could not manage an answer as she had broken out in tears once more. She could vaguely hear her friend calling her name on the other line, but was too consumed to answer.

JJ waited patiently for her outburst to die down, soothing her friend all the while. Garcia had never been one to get overly emotional and she had certainly never called JJ at such a godforsaken hour, and the sudden combination of the two had her quite worried.

"Garcia," JJ began again once the woman had calmed down, "please, tell me what happened."

Garcia sniffled pathetically into the receiver. She wanted so badly to tell JJ what was wrong. She knew the woman would comfort her and giver her probably the best advice she could ever get, but she also knew that if she told someone what had happened, there would be no escaping it. Telling someone would make everything real, and what she wanted more than anything right now was to wake up and realize that it had all been a very bad dream. So instead she just sniffled her apologies and, despite all of JJ's protests, hung up.

She knew there would be hell to pay tomorrow. Instead of just one extremely persistent FBI agent breathing down her neck, there would now be two. Sighing, she returned the phone to the counter and trudged dejectedly back into her bedroom.

She should have known better. She should have used that gifted brain of hers to make some sense of everything. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't be feeling so amazingly awful right now. But as much as she might try to convince herself, she knew that wasn't the case, even if she had realized her mistake in sleeping with Derek before she had actually slept with him, she would still be crying now. She loved him, and she knew that no matter what had happened between them, he could never feel the same way about her. That was not a burden easily dealt with.

Garcia climbed back onto her bed and curled herself into a ball. She would not cry anymore; she had already spilt enough tears for one night, and she refused to waste anymore on such a trivial matter. Her mind being made up, she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to overtake her.

* * *

Derek stood in the middle of his living room, wearing nothing but his boxers. He stared at the door until his eyes began to water, as though by doing so he could make her return.

He could not believe that she had left. After everything that had happened, he could not believe she had just left.

It was safe to say that he had not planned on what had happened, but it was definitely not an unwelcome surprise. He loved her. He had made that fact well known the night before, hadn't he? Maybe he hadn't actually spoken the words, but he had figured that she would have gotten the idea after their night of passionate love making. There had been a connection between them, one stronger than that which previously existed. No, there could be no doubt in her mind of his feelings for her, but he, on the other hand, was very doubtful as to what her feelings for him were.

He had naturally assumed that his feelings for her had been met wholeheartedly, but he was no longer so sure of that. The fact that most women were more than willing to jump into bed with him seemed to have done more than and adequate job of inflating his head to twice the size of its normal state, and he suddenly found himself in dire need of a reality check.

Garcia was not most women; that was probably a big part of why he felt the way he did about her, but it also made him slightly uneasy about his interactions with her. Sure they flirted with no shame, but he knew that deep down she was not a superficial person. He was in constant fear of disappointing her with his superfluous antics, and it seemed that now he finally had.

Derek growled in anger and slammed his foot into the leg of the coffee table. He ground his teeth against the pain and slumped down onto the sofa. It seemed to him that he could do nothing right. The last time he sat back and attempted to let her see other men, she had been shot. And now, now that he had finally accepted his feelings for her and had actually acted on them, she had rejected him. She had run away without so much as an explanation and it sent Derek's mind reeling. He knew, though, that there had to be a way to fix things, and he was determined to find it.

He was going to get her back. He _had_ to get her back.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so I realize this chapter contained very little dialogue and I apologize for that, but I really wanted to get the chapter up and posted without making you guys wait an obscenely long time. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I thought it was important to hear at least a bit of Derek's thoughts on the matter. I promise to try really hard for a quicker update next time. Thanks! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

Emily sighed in exasperation, throwing down her pen. "Jesus, Morgan, can you at least pretend to be happy?" She glared at her coworker in annoyance as he continued to mutter darkly under his breath. There was no way to be certain, but what she heard sounded like a rather long string of profanities. Derek growled contemptuously at her remark and threw the file he had been reading down angrily on his desk, which was already littered with an abundance of abandoned paperwork. He shoved his chair back and stormed across the bullpen.

Emily shook her head in disbelief as she watched Derek assaulting the soda machine on the other side of the bullpen. It was obvious he was in no mood to be talked to, let alone reprimanded, and she chided herself silently for setting herself up for a day of vicious glares and muttered insults.

Everyone had picked up on the hostility emanating from Morgan almost immediately after entering the building. There had been nothing but growls and foul language from Derek all morning, and it really should have been clear that he was in no mood for human interaction at all. Needless to say, Emily should have known better than to confront him.

Giving up on the soda machine, which just refused to yield to Derek's anger, he decided to take a walk around the building; anything was better than returning to his desk and the incredible load of paper work that had somehow appeared there after their last case. He knew he was out of line, he really did, but he just couldn't seem to figure out what had went wrong. And being in a perpetual state of perplexity did nothing of benefit for his temper.

And really, how could he be expected to not act like a jerk when he was so unbelievably angry? Sure the anger was focused mostly on himself, but still. He couldn't be the only one to blame here, and since he was most definitely not going to blame the only other related party, everyone else was just going to have to hunker down and bear the consequences.

Lost in thought, Derek walked straight into an unsuspecting passerby. His brow furrowed as a new onslaught of rage overtook him, and being so furious, he of course blamed the innocent.

"Watch it," he growled.

"Excuse me, but I believe you're the one who ran me over."

Derek looked up, caught off guard by the familiarity of the voice.

"Garcia," was all he could think to say as he stared at the woman before him.

Penelope stared blankly at him, not bothering to justify his statement with a response. Her eyes were swollen and extremely red, and yet he couldn't help marveling at how extremely beautiful they were. He could tell she had been crying, though, which left him with a strange sort of aching sensation in his chest. What he wanted more than anything at that moment was to wrap his arms around her and tell her how very sorry he was for whatever he had done to cause her so much pain. He never got the chance, though, because before he had had the chance to fully process everything, she had shoved past him and continued on her way down the hall. Derek stood for a moment in absolute shock, still not fully aware of what had happened, and then he was turning and running after her.

"Penelope," he called, praying with all of his being that she would answer. But she didn't. Fortunately for him, though, he happened to be fairly skilled in the art of running quickly through crowded rooms, and he had soon fell into stride beside her. She stared straight ahead as he began pleading with her and begging her to hear him out. When she did not respond, he caught hold of her wrist and spun her around to face him. "Baby girl, listen to me."

Her head snapped up and her eyes bore into him with a startling intensity.

"What could you possibly have to say to me that is so damn important, Derek?" Her words came out in barely more than a whisper, but there was a naked hostility about them that caused Derek to wince and release her wrist from his grasp.

He had made such a big deal of all this, and yet "we need to talk," was all he could think to say.

Garcia shook her head, blinking furiously. "We don't have anything to talk about, Derek." She brought a hand to her eye, turning away from him, and withdrew it again quickly.

"I think we have plenty to talk about," Derek countered. Her tears had not gone unnoticed, but he thought it best not say anything.

"Yeah, well, I'm not really in the mood, okay?"

"I can't just forget what happened, Penelope."

Slowly, Garcia turned back around to face him, and he could see how greatly their conversation was affecting her. Tears streamed freely down her blotchy cheeks and her nose had become an unbelievably bright shade of red. Seeing her like that broke his heart.

"Please, Derek," she pleaded, "I don't want to do this now."

"Then when?" he asked softly.

"I don't know."

Derek ran a hand over his head. "I can't just let this go, Penelope."

She met his gaze with her swollen eyes, but looked away immediately, raising a hand to brush a stray tear from her cheek. "I think it would be best for everybody if you did." And with that she left him.

Derek watched her go in a state of complete perplexity. He had no idea what he had done to hurt her to the point where she felt like she could no longer trust him, and to make matters worse, he had no idea how he was supposed to fix it either. Never before, had he known anyone to be so maddeningly puzzling. Lowering his head in defeat, Derek trudged slowly back to his desk.

"Feeling better?" Emily asked as he threw himself into his chair.

Derek raised his head only enough to glare across his paper-strewn desk at his coworker.

"Apparently not," she said, earning herself another vicious glare.

Derek returned his attention to the papers before him in a weak attempt to distract himself from the problems looming before him. It was a difficult task, though, and he could not stop his mind from wandering, nor could he stop the dark mumbling that he had resumed once more.

From where he sat, he could hear Emily sigh in exasperation and throw her pen down in defeat. "I give up," she mumbled as she shoved her chair back and sulked away.

Derek gave up trying to sift through the paperwork that needed completion and succumbed to the worries that had been preying on him for the past day.

What if he could never figure out what he had done to hurt Penelope? What if he never found a way to set things right? And even if he did, what if she refused to forgive him anyway? There was no way he would be able to live with himself if he knew that she was out there somewhere, hating him. The thought alone made him sick, but he could not for the life of him, figure out what it was that she wanted from him.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Once again, thank you to everyone who's read this far and thank you twice to those of you who have reviewed. Reading what you guys have to say never ceases to make my day.

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

Garcia returned to her office, focusing the entirety of her being onto not thinking about Derek, but despite all of her determination, it was still a matter easier said than done.

She was angry, to say the least, that she had allowed herself to be taken over again. After all the hours she had spent the night before, curled into a ball, sobbing, she had thought she was finally done. But it seemed she was mistaken. Just one look at the man, and she could feel the tears forming. She hated feeling weak just as much as she hated feeling vulnerable, but it seemed that whenever she was around Derek lately, instead of feeling independent and strong and carefree as she once did, she felt both very weak and very vulnerable.

Sighing, Penelope cleared her mind of all things Derek and focused on digging up the files JJ had asked for.

Miraculously, or not so miraculously, given the circumstances, the woman herself appeared outside her office door. Garcia had just been getting ready to walk across the building to deliver the information in person, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard the soft tapping on her office door, afraid that it was Derek coming to talk to her some more, in which case she would no doubt be reduced to tears again. She was half prepared to hide under her desk to avoid another crying fit, and was therefore very much relieved when JJ cracked the door open and poked her smiling face inside.

"Hey Garcia, have you got those files ready for me yet?"

Garcia waved her in, welcoming the distraction from her thoughts. "Yeah, I was just on my way to deliver them." She grabbed the folders off her desk and handed them over.

JJ thanked her friend and took the files.

"No problem," Garcia told her, taking her seat before her many monitors once more. "It's been a slow couple of days, so it was a welcome distraction."

JJ nodded slowly, surveying the small office and taking in her friend's appearance. She had not forgotten the phone conversation they had had the night before, or rather the conversation they had _almost_ had, and she was out of her mind with worry.

"Umm…" she began hesitantly, not knowing quite how raise the topic. She had a vague inkling as to what might be bothering her, and if she was correct, it was a delicate matter; certainly not something to be thrown out in the open without first testing the waters. Discretion was key.

Garcia spun her chair around so that she was facing the woman who was still standing rather awkwardly in front of the door. "Yeah, JJ?"

"Look, Garcia," she began breathlessly, "I'm worried about you. I know something happened last night that caused you to call me at three o'clock in the morning and you've talked to no one all day. It's not like you."

Garcia flinched visibly upon hearing her friend's tirade.

So much for discretion, JJ thought pathetically as she watched her friend shuffle her chair across the small office in a misguided attempt to look busy.

"Nothing happened last night," she said lamely, hoping against hope that her friend would drop it, though she knew for a fact it wouldn't be that easy.

"Then why did you call me at three o'clock?"

Garcia froze, pondering all possible excuses for calling someone at such an ungodly hour, crying in their ear for fifteen minutes, and then hanging up without so much as an explanation. When she thought about it, there really was no excuse for what had happened other than the truth, which was the one thing she was unwilling to tell her friend at this moment. So instead, she just spit out the first thing that came to mind.

"I was watching this movie and it was really sad," she lied lamely.

JJ shook her head in disbelief. "That's a lie and you know it. You of all people would not wake me up at three in the morning just because of a sad movie." She stepped closer to her friend, taking her hand. "Look, Garcia, I know something happened between you and Derek last night, I'm just not sure what."

Penelope's mouth fell open in shock. So much for keeping that tad bit of information to herself. She hadn't even needed to open her mouth for someone to find out and make everything that had happened a reality.

She racked her brain for something, anything, she could use to deny the allegations, but all she managed to mumble was, "How did you know?"

JJ quirked an eyebrow. "Well, you mean besides the fact that you're distraught?" Penelope nodded slowly. "Derek's been acting like a complete jerk." Garcia winced. "Really, Emily's been hiding in my office for the past two hours. Derek's never in a bad mood. It can't be just a coincidence."

Garcia frowned. "You've been spending way too much time around profilers," she grumbled. That made JJ laugh, though she still did not forget the reason she was there.

"Please tell me what happened, Garcia."

JJ's brown eyes found Garcia's and there was a look of utter pleading about them that forced the truth from her. "I slept with him," she squeaked. Her cheeks flushed and looked immediately away, not trusting herself to keep eye contact.

"What!" Garcia repeated herself, and it was JJ's turn to gape open-mouthed at her friend. She took a minute to compose herself before inquiring any further but could not refrain for long. "And that was why you were crying last night?" Garcia nodded slowly. JJ thought for a moment before continuing. "What happened?"

"I already told you, JJ," Garcia said quietly, "I slept with him."

"Yes, I know that, but what happened to make you so distraught? There had to have been something else."

"No, that was it. I slept with him and then I left."

JJ could not be certain, but there seemed to be a lot more to the story than Garcia was letting on. She was closing herself off and hiding her emotions, which was something that she absolutely never did. The fact that she was now proved just how seriously she was taking this, whatever it was, and had JJ all the more worried. "Garcia, why did you leave?" she probed gently.

"I really don't want to talk about this right now, JJ."

JJ nodded in acceptance of her friend's wishes. If she did not want to get into details right now that was fine, but she was certainly not going to let this go. She knew that if she left Garcia to handle it on her own, she would be consumed by it, and that was not something she wanted for her friend.

"Well, you two definitely have some things you need to work out, and if I were you I would do it sooner rather than later." Garcia looked up questioningly. "We've got a case."

"Where?"

"Carlton, Oregon," she replied solemnly. "We leave first thing tomorrow, and from the looks of it this is going to be a tough one." She held up the case files as evidence, and Garcia realized for the first time just how thick they were. She raised a questioning eyebrow, but JJ shook her head. "You don't need the details right now."

Normally, Penelope would protest the censorship, but at the moment she hadn't the energy nor the willpower to fight. And personally, she didn't care all that much, not for now anyway. There would be time to worry about that tomorrow, when her effort counted; right now made now difference.

"I should probably get back to work," JJ said, standing up. "Thanks again for the files." She wrapped her friend in a warm hug, reminding her that she was there if she ever needed anything, and stood to leave. She paused as she reached the door, though, and turned back around to face her. "Garcia," she called softly, "talk to him. You two have too good of a relationship to let it go to waste without a fight." Garcia nodded weakly and JJ closed the door behind her.

She was right, Garcia knew she was, but that did not make her any more willing to subject herself to the humiliation and hurt of a conversation with Derek Morgan, not now anyway. She was still too broken up for that. She would pull herself together and then she would talk to him because if a conversation took place before she had reached that point, it would no doubt end in disaster.

Sighing, Penelope began shutting her babies down for the night. All this thinking could wait until later. All she wanted right now was to go home and curl up on the sofa with a box of chocolates and an endless supply of cheesy romance movies. Not that either of these things could really solve her problem, but they _could_ do a mighty fine job of making her forget what that problem was, for the meantime at least, and that was good enough for now.

* * *

A/N: Chapter five is halfway done already due to the fact that I have nowhere better to be and nothing better to do, so I'll hopefully have that posted sometime tomorrow. Thanks again and Happy New Year!!! 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay. I've had this chapter finished for several days now, but I haven't really had the time to sit down and post it. I hope you'll forgive me. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and please tell me what you think. Thanks so much!

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

Derek stood on the landing outside Penelope's door. He kept telling himself over and over that what he was doing was right, that he shouldn't back out, but every time he raised a hand to knock, he remembered the last thing she had said to him, and even worse the look she'd had in her eye when she said it. She'd told him to forget what had happened. He hadn't thought she'd meant it at first, but now, after hours of speculation, he was no longer sure.

That was besides the point, though, because no matter what she wanted, he would never forget what had happened between them. That was simply not an option that Derek was willing to consider. Not to mention he didn't think he would be able to live with himself if he were to wake up in the morning and fly clear across the country without at least attempting to fix whatever he had done to screw things up between them so badly.

Gathering himself, he took a deep breath and knocked softly on the door. He could hear the TV going from where he stood, and then Garcia groaning in annoyance. "Go away," she called, "I'm busy."

Derek could not help but smile at that. She could be truly adorable sometimes, whether she knew it or not.

"Garcia, open up," he called back. "It's Morgan." He silently cursed himself as soon as the words had left his lips. Now she definitely wouldn't be opening the door.

He waited hesitantly on the doorstep, listening raptly to the dialogue of the film within. The minutes ticked slowly by and he was just about to start pounding on the door in desperation when she shocked him by yanking it open.

She looked a great deal better than she had earlier that day, though she wore an old tank top and oversized sweatpants speckled with flecks of purple paint that looked suspiciously similar to that on her walls. Her face was no longer blotchy and her eyes weren't puffy. In fact there was a healthy glow to her face that he attributed to the feast of chocolate and wine he could see patiently awaiting her on her coffee table.

She stared at him without saying anything for what felt like hours before he finally thought it best to break the silence.

"We've got a case," he said lamely.

Penelope nodded. "JJ told me."

They stood in awkward silence and then suddenly Derek was pushing past her into her apartment. Penelope looked shocked but soon regained herself. "Derek, why are you here?"

He shrugged his shoulders anticlimactically. "I can't leave without knowing why you're so mad at me." He stepped closer to her and she felt herself fidgeting nervously. "What did I do wrong?"

Penelope bit her lip, cursing herself for ever opening the door. Once more, she was on the verge of tears, and all because she had opened that stupid door. "I don't want to do this right now," she whispered, not trusting her voice to carry the weight of the words.

Derek ran a hand over his head. "You didn't want to do this earlier either, Garcia, and I'm running out of options."

"Not now, Derek," she repeated.

"When, Garcia?" he asked her. "We slept together and that's not going to go away, no matter how long you spend trying to run away from it." His words came out more forcefully than he'd intended in his frustration, but Garcia seemed to take no notice.

"I'm not running away," she muttered defensively.

"You ran away last night and you're running away now."

"Please, let this go," she pleaded.

Derek growled in frustration. "I've already told you I can't do that, and I don't understand why you're so willing to yourself." He allowed himself a moment to calm down before continuing. "Please, talk to me, Penelope. Please just give me something to go on here."

Morgan placed a hand on her arm, but she shrugged out of his grasp. She could see the hurt in his eyes as she pulled away, and she was filled with a sudden sense regret for her actions. She watched as he stared at her and couldn't help feeling like everything she had done over the past twenty-four hours had been completely wrong. Derek soon regained himself, however, and Penelope was brought back from her reverie. He positioned himself firmly before her, cradling her face within his strong hands. He met her gaze, taking advantage of the confusion he found there, and his lips crashed into hers.

Penelope felt her defenses dropping as Derek's lips met hers and his hands slid down her back to encircle her waist. This was what she wanted. This was where she wanted to be. She was tired of fighting and over-thinking everything, and really she was starting to find that the results were much more gratifying when she didn't thing at all. Still, the distant, more lucid portion of her mind raged against her. What she was doing was wrong, and would most certainly cause nothing but grief in the very near future. She needed to put a stop to this before things got out of hand.

Her hands had been exploring his chest as he kissed her, of their own accord, no doubt, and she had been relishing in the feel of his well-defined musculature beneath her fingers. She now used their position as leverage as she gently shoved against Derek, freeing herself once more from his grasp.

"Please don't," she whispered brokenly.

Derek let himself be pushed away from her. He had expected as much. After everything that she had said, how could he not? But he still could not disguise the hurt that he felt as he watched Penelope bustling about the living room. She had begun collecting the chocolate wrappers that had been scattered about the coffee table as though nothing had happened. Her work allowed her to conveniently avoid Morgan's gaze until the last moment. When she did finally look up she was shocked to find that his countenance resembled that of a man absolutely defeated.

"I'm sorry," he stated plainly.

The simplicity of his statement caught her off guard, but she soon gathered herself and managed to reply. "You have nothing to be sorry for, hot stuff." She smiled weakly in an attempt to cheer him up. She hated seeing him looking so crushed. "I just need time to think about everything that's happened."

Derek nodded solemnly. The fact that she hadn't referred to him by his proper name as she had insisted on doing since the night before had not escaped his attention, but he could not bring himself to think anything of it. She still refused to talk to him, and he still had no idea why.

"I guess I'll see you when I get back then," he said.

Garcia nodded and he turned to leave.

"Derek," she called suddenly, and he froze, already halfway out the door. He turned to face her and she was suddenly overcome by a wave of emotions that she did not even know existed. She just stared at him for a moment, trusting her eyes to convey all that she was trying to tell him, and then she smiled in what she hoped was a warm manner. "Thank you."

Her words had the effect she had hoped for. She could see the change in Derek's expression as he stared at her. He went from downtrodden and defeated back to his usual playful and puckish in a matter of seconds. It seemed there was no limit as to what could be communicated in just a glance.

Derek smiled wholeheartedly at her, understanding her perfectly. "Any time, baby girl." He winked at her and closed the door behind him.


End file.
